Campus committees short on members

Though the Nominations and Elections Committee bears the slogan "get off your ass," the group is facing a potential shortage in applicants to committees this year. The NEC is currently trying to recruit students to apply for 39 University-wide committees that deal with everything from the Penn Bookstore to University facilities. The NEC hopes to fill about 60 to 70 committee slots. To some extent, the NEC succeeded in reaching this goal, receiving about 110 applications from about 50 applicants by 6 p.m. Tuesday night, the application deadline. But several open committee spots didn't receive any applicants. "A lot of people apply for certain committees, and we don't have a lot of people who apply for others," NEC Vice Chairman of Nominations and College senior Evan Thomas said. NEC Chairman and Wharton senior Nick Goad agreed, saying, "Some of the committees, especially the trustee committees, got an unusually high amount of applicants." Though around 50 students applied for positions, the NEC will not necessarily fill all empty slots if they don't feel the candidates are qualified enough. The body must then seek out more students to fill certain spots throughout the semester. Generally, according to Goad, in order to fill the extra slots, the NEC will literally "go out and search for students." "We'll specifically target students that are interested in those committees," Goad said. For example, the NEC might ask professors in the Communications Department for the names of students who might be interested in working on the Communications committee. "If we can't find anyone this semester, we'll actually run another [application] process in the fall," Goad added. Thomas added that certain committees usually appeal to many students, while others simply aren't as popular. "We always have people who are very excited about working with the trustees," Thomas said. Many students are not quite as elated by the prospect of working on the bookstore or art collection advisory committees. "We actually don't have anyone who applied for those," Thomas said. "It's a little frustrating, I guess. I mean, you can't change what people are interested in." This weekend, the NEC will interview most committee applicants as the group feels that "interviews are most effective," and because the NEC also plans to possibly move applicants to other committees that need more members. After the interviews conclude, the NEC will hold a full body meeting for a final review of the applicants. The interview panel for each committee will present its recommendations to the entire body, and the NEC will determine the chosen new members with a two-thirds vote. The NEC will release results of the application process via e-mail either Monday night or Tuesday morning. Despite the long road ahead for the NEC in terms of persuading more students to work on University committees, both Goad and Thomas said they were optimistic about the number of applicants. "Generally, I guess I would characterize it as fairly successful," Thomas said. Goad said he was pleased because the number of applications the NEC received was "higher than most years."